2010 Imperial Reserva
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Saturated ruby. Spicy, intensely perfumed cherry and dark berry aromas are complemented by vanilla, potpourri and an exotic Indian spice quality. Smooth, round and concentrated, offering sweet, focused red and dark berry compote flavors lifted by juicy acidity. Appealingly sweet and broad on the impressively long, youthfully tannic back end, showing finishing notes of allspice, raspberry and bitter chocolate. (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
A worthy follow up of the 2008, the 2010 Imperial Reserva is the usual blend of Tempranillo with 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo (aka Cariñena) fermented with yeasts selected from their own vineyards and matured in American and French oak barrels for two years before being fined with egg whites and bottled unfiltered. This was a textbook Rioja Alta vintage that produced very balanced, fresh wines with plenty of stuffing. This is no exception, showing some fresh orange-peel notes intermixed with hints of leather, blackberries, cherries and pepper with the oak perfectly folded into the fruit. The texture is soft and the tannin fine-grained. It has good acidity and flavors that start to reveal some development and complexity, although this feels very young. A textbook Reserva with the ability to develop in bottle. 150,000 bottles produced.
About the producer
CVNE, or Compañía Vinicola del Norte de España (the Northern Spanish Wine Company), is one of Rioja’s leading names. With its various brands – Cune, Viña Real, Contino and Imperial – CVNE produces both large volumes and high quality, with its Imperial Gran Reserva one of the region’s finest wines.